Michaels view on improvement of prisoner support:

I think sometimes people worry that they should be sending a long
interesting letter, but for me anyway, just knowing that there are people out
thinking about me was enough to keep my spirits up, especially at the beginning
of my sentence.

Even a postcard can really cheer you up.

I 've probably told you before how good it feels when the miserable screw delivering
the post realises that half of the letter are for one person. And sitting in
that cell for 23 hours a day, sometimes I'd be just waiting for the mail delivery.
It was all I had to look forward to.

Receiving letters is great, but sometimes more practical help is needed, like
money, books etc. The only time that I was worried about money, Brigthon ABC
and the legal Defense and Monitoring Group with RTS both came up tromps, sending
postal orders to all the Mayday prisoners at Christmas. That was one of the
best moments of prisoner support, not just because I needed the money, but because
of the way it happened.

I wasn't working, so I was about to go onto £2.50 a week which is the minimum
every prisoner gets. It wasn't just the money situation that was getting me
down, but it certainly made it worse.

I thank you for all your letters and hope you don't mind that I haven't written
as much as you. I think that is something to remember when writing to prisoners-
we sometimes find it hard to reply. Its just that prison can de-motivate you
and even though I am really happy to get letters, sometimes I need to just escape
into a book for a few days. I try to write little short letters in reply, but
I feel so grateful that someone has taken the time to write to me that I want
to write a proper reply.

For as long as there has been oppression and exploitation, there has been resistance.
Whenever the resistance starts to become effective, the state modifies its methods.
New laws are brought in to crush the fightback and prison is always there to
crush the individuals involved. By supporting prisoners we defend them against
the brutality of the state and defend the movement, too.